Childish Gambino @ The O2 - Review

Donald Glover is one of the greatest entertainers of our generation. Starting out as a writer on 30 Rock, he has since mastered acting, directing and producing, culminating in his project Atlanta - which he starred in alongside Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield and Zaze Beetz. Meanwhile, Glover was developing an illustrious music career under his alter ego, Childish Gambino. Although he originated as a rapper, I never considered his work in this genre particularly good, only really loving about 2 or 3 songs from his 2013 release Because the Internet. As a result, I was completely astounded by his soul and funk infused album Awaken, My Love that was a completely left-field production from an artist of Gambino’s ilk, clearly taking influence from sixties and seventies outfits such as Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins and Sly & The Family Stone. Whilst many fans criticised his move away from the sound they loved, this was a more than welcome change for me as each of the songs emphasised an enormously talented singer and multi-instrumentalist that produced passionate instrumentals and heartfelt lyrics. Its most popular song ‘Redbone’, although by no means my personal favourite, was everywhere for at least a couple years, picking up three Grammy nominations and one win, as well as a feature in Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed Get Out. Perhaps his most notable musical work since this album was the phenomenal video for ‘This Is America’, a song that highlights black American culture amidst political chaos in his native country. The style impersonates modern rappers, whilst the video hides numerous Easter eggs exemplifying the disparity between how the world views black American culture and the harsh reality of how this community live their lives. However, in 2017 Glover announced that he would retire the Childish Gambino moniker following the release of his next album, which so far has proved elusive. Working on and creating his own hit show in Atlanta, plus starring in Disney’s Lion King and Star Wars reboots means that creative time is limited for Glover and perhaps priorities have been set for the future.

Although I was fortunate enough to witness Glover’s mesmerising headline performance at Lovebox over the summer, the realisation that the announcement of his double O2 Arena dates would probably be the last of his in the UK was too much of an opportunity to miss. His Lovebox set was probably the best performance I had ever seen and, whilst I was not entirely expecting his O2 show to top it as it was still fresh in the memory and there was no new music, Donald Glover reaffirmed to me why he is currently one of the most talented individual in the arts world. I arrived at the O2 earlier than I ever had before, leaving plenty of time to buy the poster that AVSJ co-writer Aaron had begged me to get him, and to see the wonderful H.E.R supporting. However, this was still too late as queues for the merchandise went around the corner and getting close to the front even an hour before Gambino proved relatively difficult. Perhaps more irritating is how horrible the O2 Arena is itself, a soulless, corporate space plastered with adverts and extortionate prices for everything that - in previous experiences - drained any intimacy from the show.

This intimacy, or lack thereof, did not seem to be a problem on the night. This night was about the headline act, exemplified by the runway that grew from the stage to maintain the audience’s gaze on Glover at all times. While there was a full band supporting the main man, it was below the stage and made it near impossible to see them from the centre of the crowd. As a result, the show felt more like a connection between 20,000 people and their idol, each audience member staring completely in awe as every note, scream and dance was pulled off immaculately. Glover’s request that the audience didn’t film or photograph the show, associating the experience set to take place like going to church, made the spatial relationship between performer and audience feel so much more special, marvelling at the display and engaging rather than viewing it through a screen. Whilst it did not stop everyone, including myself gathering some footage to help write this review, it definitely added to the atmosphere and was a step further in audience co-operation I had seen from an extremely top tier performer.

Donald Glover creating something unprecedented seems to be a common occurrence these days and this performance was full of surprises I had never seen at a concert. After an explosive opening sequence, running through both new and old work, such as ‘Worldstar’ and ‘The Other Guys’, he disappeared off the stage with a live camera feed following him through the complex backstage staircases and corridors before appearing in the stands, surrounded by an entourage stopping fans from swarming him whilst he sings ‘Stand Tall’. After running through a large portion of Awaken, My Love, including a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Terrified’ that was delivered on all fours at the end of the runway, a group of dancers dressed in all white came out to replicate his viral ‘This Is America’ video spectacularly, as Donald fantastically hyped the crowd up before its monumental drop, flawlessly dancing and singing his way through the song as he replicated his expressive facial grimaces throughout. After another quick exit off the stage, Glover returned to dish out some classics, concluding with something for everyone as he performed songs from each of his last three projects, as well as a teaser of ‘Bonfire’ from his 2012 release Camp; it seemed like a fitting tribute to his earliest fans. ‘Sweatpants’, his penultimate song, was in my opinion one of the highlights of the show, as Glover somehow cranked up the energy after over an hour of performing at maximum effort. It was no surprise that he closed with ‘Redbone’, but what was a major shock is that he ended it by running up and down the aisle of the crowd like some kind of victory lap, basking in the glory of another outstanding performance. Had it not been for a guy blocking me off I would have been inches away from one of the great artistic minds, but instead had to settle for him quickly whizzing past me before I could even register what had happened.

This was a performance of the highest quality. There are probably few artists in history capable of producing a spectacle as good as this. It is a great shame that this is likely to be the last ever Childish Gambino tour, but after seeing Eminem put in the most 50/50 show I have seen it is probably a good thing that he cannot ruin any future shows by going out on a high and judging by how grey his beard has become it is perhaps a sign that he is nearing retirement age. This was a routine in which every minute detail seemed to have been carefully examined and perfectly executed, barring maybe the exemption of my personal favourite Gambino track ‘Baby Boy’, and it exemplified exactly why everything Donald Glover seems to be doing at the moment is unparalleled by any of his competitors. It has become a bit of an ongoing theme that I highly recommend seeing an artist who is finishing their tour, but if you never saw a Childish Gambino show you have truly missed out on something special; this is a once in a generation talent and no one is likely to challenge this performance any time soon.

10/10